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Yukes tries to improve the excellent SmackDown! vs. RAW 2006. The 2007 iteration of this franchise adds a few new features and gameplay mechanics, and the Xbox 360 debut certainly looks great, but it’s easy to see that Yukes is running out of idea for the Smackdown! franchise.
SmackDown! vs. RAW 2007 still includes more match types than you could know what to do with. Among these are exhibition, tag matches, cage matches, table matches, hell-in-a-cell, TLC matches, first blood matches, and the elimination chamber, buried alive and fulfill-your’s-fantasy matches. The only new match type this year is “money in the bank,” a six man free-for-all ladder match. The game also includes the expected create-a-wrestler, create-a-belt, create-a-stable modes from previous years and improves the create-an-entrance mode from last year’s game by removing load times and giving you more options.
The two biggest singleplayer modes are the season mode and GM mode. The season mode resembles what you would find in a typical WWE airing. There is some drama and many feuds involved, usually ending in a Pay-Per-View match with a title shot on the line. There are around 40 different storylines in the game so there is plenty to find here. Like in last year’s game, SvR 2007 boasts voice acting from nearly every wrestler in the game adding some much-needed authenticity to the game. The GM mode is most similar to the franchise mode in other sports games. You’ll have to manage one of the WWE brands but stay within a budget as you expand that brand. To do this, you’ll need to plan events and make sure you have good talent at the shows. It’s cool getting some behind the scenes action with the game, and SvR 2007 includes some wrinkles including the ability to specify feud types.
Yukes completely redesigned the game’s grappling engine in the last year. Instead of a dedicated grappling button, hitting the right analog stick in any direction will begin one of the wrestler’s quick grapple moves. You can execute strong grapples by holding the right shoulder button on either platform and then hitting the stick. The direction that you hit the stick will decide which type of move (submission, power, speed, etc) you’ll be pulling off, and then you hit another button to execute the actual move. When you get an opponent in a strong grapple, you can also pick them up above you and pull off a dozen or so embarrassing moves. It’s an in-depth system that works quite well in practice and gives you a lot of control over what you’re playing. The stamina and momentum systems from last year’s game are also included in this version.
In addition to the in-ring fighting, the game lets you throw an opponent over the barricade in a certain part of the crowd. When you reach this area, you’ll have access to a number of weapons like tables and chairs, as well as stuff like fire extinguishers and speakers to throw at your opponent. As cool as this is though, it would have been more beneficial for Yukes to work on improving some of the series’ more obvious faults. The collision detection system in the game works well most of the time, but you’ll find that some hits don’t connect when they should or that tables don’t break when they should. The AI for the wrestlers is still a little off and another thing Yukes could improve for next year’s game.
On the Xbox 360 and PS2, the game supports up to four players online (and six players offline). Nearly every match from the singleplayer version of the game makes its way to the multiplayer mode. It also lets you trade created wrestlers or compete for created belts. The game keeps tracks of title defenses, wins, losses, etc via online scoreboards. In our tests, we found the gameplay to be mostly lag-free. One thing that we hope Yukes surprises us with this year or includes in the next version is to release roster updates. The WWE games are notorious for being out of date before they even ship and this would alleviate that problem.
The Smackdown! series has always been visually impressive and this game is no different. The character models are incredibly detailed on both platforms, although the Xbox 360 version benefits from greatly improved skin textures, more detailed character models, and perhaps the best use of sweat in a sports game. The entrances are equally impressive with plenty of pyrotechnics to liven things up. The framerate holds up very well for the most part. The visuals would be perfect but there are some collision detection issues mentioned above as well as some clipping problems although these don’t hurt the look of the game too much.
The game’s sound is equally remarkable. The commentary from Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler or Michael Cole and Tazz is pretty decent adding some genuineness to the game’s atmosphere. The soundtrack includes licensed music from the hip-hop and rock genres. The sound effects were perfected long ago and sound great in the game. The wrestler voice acting is pretty good again this year allowing you to get immersed in the game’s story mode.
WWE SmackDown! vs. RAW 2007 manages to introduce some new wrinkles to the Smackdown formula and is easily the best wrestling game on the PS2 and Xbox 360. You can spend dozens of hours playing through the game’s various modes and match types, and that’s even before you start playing multiplayer. -- Adam Nunez, PGNx Media
---- Nov 25, 2006
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